Amy J. Bennett

Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life

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ER Scare

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S was over here after school and before MIL picked all the girls up and they were all outside playing.  Both Emma and S got ants all over them but S especially.  We quickly got the ants off her but she had gotten bitten a good 15 times before she was clear.  I put some StingEaze on her and gave her some Benadryl just in case after MIL seemed nervous about it.  And no one knew if she was allergic to the bites or the Benadryl. 

Well, they all load up and go and the next thing I know I’m getting a call on the phone while I’m on a conference call that I don’t answer and then my cell phone rings which I miss.  The phone rings again and I finally pick up my cell phone and Scott is almost yelling about my nephew K rushing home to ride in an ambulance with S and then he hangs up.  Wha??  I walk outside trying to see if I see MIL down the street still.  I try to call Scott back but he doesn’t answer.  He finally calls me back and says, "Oh, Mom called K and said be sure to be home in case he needed to ride in the ambulance with her and she needed to stay with Emma and Lexi."  Whew.  Crisis averted but seems like much ado about ant bites dontcha think?

Enjoying Family

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I was able to spend a few minutes before and after our meeting tonight with my family in town and I don’t know, I seem to be on a sentimental streak with my posts tonight but it just felt really good to be around family I love.  Mom was cooking and we were laughing about something that happened last week.  They were talking about seeing Mom’s house for the first time and we were planning out our day tomorrow.  Probably one of very few we’ll have together even this year.  And it just felt good.  To be loved.  To be liked.  Just to enjoy my time and my company.  I’m hoping the rest of the weekend is just as good.

PTL – the visit

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Today my sister and I had a notion to go around my town and take pictures. It is growing SO FAST that at times, we hardly recognize it ourselves if we visit a part of town we haven’t been to in awhile. So we went to Blockbuster, rented two movies for the girls and hauled them around in the van for almost three hours. Scott was working so we were in no hurry and I also had fed the girls right before we left. I can’t believe it went by so quickly.

I have about over 200 pictures. A lot of the pictures were where things are going to be developed or are just being developed. We did end up taking some landmark pictures as well.

In all that, we were taking a picture of our new high school in town and you can see the tower from PTL in the background. We both agreed we should visit there and take pictures. I have mentioned in a previous post how much PTL meant to me and my family. But in short, we stayed on the campgrounds in a pup tent there when we moved down South when I was 3 and Heather was 1. My dad ended up getting a job there. When I was 12, we moved into a house in the residential part of the grounds for one year. And then, after all that, when I was 15, I ended up working on Main Street at the ice cream shop.

Our visit today turned out to be another world all on its own. We kept taking so many pictures, I kept having to delete not-so-good ones of the town just to squeeze one or two more of PTL.

The visit was quite simply surreal. And somewhat sad. A few times I had tears well up and had to stop them. I kept saying to Heather it was like living in a real Back to the Future movie.

So. What I’ve done is uploaded the pictures to my picasa site and made a slideshow and posted it below. It was going to take forever if I did it all manually on here. I suggest you pause the slideshow and click the captions on and off on the bottom left of the screen as you need to. Some of them are very long, so I know it’s hard to see the pictures and read.

You can also visit the Picasa album and flip through manually if you like.

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My Honda needs some love

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So my Odyssey has been great the past 2 1/2 years but it sure has taken a beaten.  It’s taken probably 6 or 7 trips to Maryland and 3 to Myrtle Beach as well as our daily commuting everywhere.  It’s got some scratches and even some rust spots coming up. 

One I particular remember making was when I was parked too closely to a car and the lady next to us had her door open a little bit and when I hit the automatic button for our side door to open, it scraped all the way down until it was completely open. I just looked at the woman and said, "I’m sorry, that was my fault." I threw the kids in the van and drove off.  Her door wasn’t damaged since it had caught on the edge of her door and I’m the one with several scratches down the side of my van.

In any case, my van needs some love.  Scott’s really big into tools but has never really been into body shop stuff so he doesn’t have many body shop supplies around.  I’m thinking I need to splurge and see if we can get him some tools.  That will make him WANT to use them and fix EVERY dent, scratch and rust spot he can find.  Here’s to hoping.

Disney Trip

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I think we need to plan a trip to Disney.  I am really not looking forward to it.  My experiences in the past have been fine but now I’m the mom having to plan it, pay for it and then carry the tired toddler for hours.  So I’m not looking forward to it.

My first visit to Disney was in 1985 I believe when I was 7.  We stayed at a resort near there and we had a great time.  I remember the pool, the records that it had to play there. I remember the tea cups and It’s a Small World and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and how I was too young to ride Space Mountain.

Fast forward to 2002.  The day before we left for Disney with my in-laws, I found out I was pregnant.  We still went and stayed at an Orlando rental home.  The place was nice with a screened in pool in the back yard.  It was in April so it was too cold to get in but the concept was nice.  I still couldn’t ride Space Mountain but we had a decent time. 

Now here we are in 2007 and my children are nutso about Disney Princesses.  In fact, they love several Disney characters.  They REALLY want to go to Disney.  I know for a fact I need to give in soon as Emma’s already getting to the point where she’s outgrowing them.  I really want them to be completely awed when they see Cinderella’s castle and the parade with all the real princesses.

I guess I need to get off my duff, suck it up and plan a trip.

The Icing Makes the Difference

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"By far my favorite food my mom has ever made is her chocolate cake. She’s made it for several of my birthdays, my Dad’s birthdays, my sister’s birthday, even her own birthday. The cake itself is not what’s the best though. She just uses a box chocolate cake mix. It’s the icing that makes the difference. I remember my friend Melissa tasting it when we were younger. She loved it so much she got the recipe, proceeded to make it, refrigerate it and then eat it more like fudge. The stuff is good. And with the Hamilton Beach® Eclectrics® Mixer, if you did want to refrigerate it, all you’d have to do is move the bowl to the refrigerator.

To make this yummy icing either for you cake or for your fudge eating pleasure, here’s the recipe:

Melt one stick of butter and 4 tablespoons of cocoa in a small pan on medium heat.

Pour this into the Hamilton Beach® Mixer and slowly mix in one box of powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer makes it so great because you don’t have to hold up the mixer, you let it do all the work!

Will it be Charleston?

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Scott and I are working up to our 10th anniversary next August.  We are wanting to definitely make a weekend of it but don’t really want to go too far from home.  We are considering either Charleston or Asheville.  The last time I was in Charleston, I was probably eight.  My family took us and I remember a t-shirt I got.  It was white with some type of picture on it and had Charleston written in purple.  I also remember seeing Rainbow Row as well as walking through an outdoor market.  Needless to say, I don’t remember a whole lot about it.  So I’m thinking a city like that would be a great place to visit for our anniversary, especially when we’re willing to spend the extra money to go all out on a hotel, dinners and even tours.

I found that Trusted Tours has some Charleston Tours Scott and I might be interested in when we visit.  I’m thinking the Carriage Tour would be perfect for a romantic day out.  When Scott and I got married, he surprised me with a carriage ride right after the ceremony and I felt just like a princess.  I’m thinking that tour would be quite fitting.